


Provider, Protector

by Too_Many_Seeds



Series: Motherhood (Pregnant Deputy ) [2]
Category: Far Cry 5
Genre: F/M, Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-17 12:58:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,981
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16516934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Too_Many_Seeds/pseuds/Too_Many_Seeds
Summary: Being captured and starved by Jacob Seed leads to more than one life being put in danger, and Rook is left with a very dangerous man knowing more about her condition than she would have ever preferred.





	Provider, Protector

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Pregnancy, some darkish themes typical of the cult in game

Rook could remember every detail of their failed arrest of Joseph Seed; the sickly sweet taste of her quick pick-me-up candy bar, the gratingly repetitive thrum of the helicopter and the distinct smell of smoke that surrounded the compound. 

Even now, months later, everything leading up to that confrontation was painfully clear. Sitting in the cage of Jacob Seed’s dilapidated Veterans’ Center and glaring through the bars at the man in charge of the wannabe-soldiers terrorising the mountains, she knew that she was working with borrowed time. Because she wasn’t the only one who remembered everything about that night. 

Staci Pratt had stopped dead in his tracks and she recognised that distant expression on his face. It was the expression of someone who wasn’t quite present; who was digging in their head for a painfully clear memory. A memory of _her,_ of the probie he’d been introduced to only weeks before everything went to shit; a probie whose figure his wandering eyes had taken in eagerly when they’d met. 

She drew in a deep breath, watching as the gears clicked in Staci’s head. _Gather the evidence,_ she thought in a burst of irony, and she could almost see him prying open plastic bags in his mind and sifting through the memories. Her hesitance to approach the helicopter that night, a furtive glance to her abdomen, her refusal of one of the coffee cups Hudson had brought for the team. 

“I’ll pass,” Rook almost heard herself say again, “I…don’t think caffeine is a good idea for me right now, sorry.” 

Staci had shrugged and scooped up the second cup before Hudson could angle it away from him.

“More for me, I guess,” he’d said as they’d boarded.   


It didn’t matter then - not to him - but it mattered now. 

They’d been doing routine rounds; Jacob barely glancing at any of the prisoners yet - they weren’t ready, weren’t reduced utterly to instinct and into a state that actually interested him yet - but Staci had disobeyed. Staci had _looked_ at her, glancing away from his clipboard that he was meant to be jotting Jacob’s notes on and stared at her. Perhaps it was meant as a sympathetic stare, an expression of “I know what you’re going through”, but any attempts at that had been ripped away the moment he’d actually seen her. 

Her jacket was lying across her lap - a remnant of an attempt to warm herself through the previous night - and her shirt was clinging and baring the slight bulge she had been accumulating through the months. 

His eyes widened, and she felt herself inhale sharply as she realised what he was about to do.

“Peaches, keep up,” Jacob called over his shoulder, not even sparing a glance to see if his faithful dog would follow.   


She stared intently at her former colleague, holding her breath.

“Jacob,” Staci called out, voice firmer than anything he’d managed in months. “You can’t.”   


Jacob glanced over his shoulder, most likely only paying attention because of the audacity of his broken captive to question him. He raised an eyebrow and followed Staci’s line of sight to the Deputy. He gave her a once over but quickly looked away again; deeming her unworthy as she hadn’t been there long enough to be of any use to him. 

“Staci,” Rook spoke, voice soft but cracked from over a day without water. “Don’t.”   


_Don’t give him more power over me,_ she wanted to say but the words wouldn’t come.  __

“She’s pregnant, Jacob,” Staci blurted out, glancing desperately to and from her and his captor. “You can’t! You can’t…She’s pregnant!”   


Jacob’s expression had barely changed; the neutral mask of calm still perfectly in place even as he sighed and stepped closer to her. She could guess that he liked to avoid interacting with the prisoners until they’d been reduced to a starving, dehydrated bundle of survival instincts, but he reached the edge of the cage and glanced down at her carefully nonetheless. 

Rook could almost pinpoint the moment he realised that Pratt was telling the truth; his eyes narrowed and he stiffened almost imperceptibly. He didn’t say a word, though he made a small tutting noise; perhaps in irritation or inconvenience. 

“S’it yours, Peaches?” He asked, but didn’t glance back towards his follower. Rook flinched and stared adamantly at the ground. 

She thought of the lacklustre message her former boyfriend had sent her the night he’d high-tailed himself to Missoula, and almost  _wished_ it was Staci’s instead. 

“No, sir.”   


Jacob hummed low in his throat, before kneeling down in front of her, a heavy sigh coming from him as he went. He was silent for a few moments, but she could feel his eyes on her; judging her and boring into the bulge on her abdomen. 

“Well, what are we gonna do with you, huh?” He muttered, half to himself. He reached out to brace himself against the bars of the cage, tapping idly against it with his thumb in thought. “I had a plan for you, y’know. Think it might’ve worked, too. But you really are just _determined_ to fuck everything up for us, aren’t you?” He sighed again, and she felt a pang of irritation; wanting him to just _do_ something. “Joseph…wouldn’t like me putting you through training. So that’s not gonna happen.” 

He stood; hand still gripping the bar and eyes still fixed on her carefully. 

“Well, either way, you’re not gonna be causing much more trouble now, are you?” He chuckled, but the sound wasn’t light or nearly halfway genuine. “But at least you know your purpose. Gonna admit, I had you pegged for a soldier, not a mother.”   


Her eyes narrowed, and she wondered if there was a dig somewhere in his words, but she kept her mouth shut. Surprise was her best advantage; her best chance at freedom. She could keep her mouth shut now, and later show him how very capable she was of being both soldier _and_ mother. 

Jacob turned away, heading towards the nearby entrance of the building, and Staci gave her a distraught glance before rushing after him.

“You _can’t!”_  He insisted in a spurt of foolish bravery that surprised him. He wasn’t sure if it was because it was Rook on the line, or her child, but he wasn’t staying silent on this. “You can’t starve her; it’ll kill them!”   


“I’m not fucking starving them, Peaches,” Jacob replied, turning around and staring at the other man. Staci’s eyes narrowed in confusion before he lowered his head, gazing back at the ground and remembering his place with the echo of the familiar song playing in the nearby building. Satisfied, Jacob continued to the nearby entrance and neither of the two men glanced back at Rook again.   


She almost would have thought that nothing had changed, until the next hour, when she was herded out of her cage and into a transport van. Her escort, to his credit, had barely wrinkled his nose at her soiled clothing, and had even helped her put her seat-beat on as he settled in opposite her. 

As they travelled, he had slowly given her sips of a water bottle, and she wondered if anything else had ever tasted sweeter. Rook scanned her escort over as furtively as possible, but scowled when she realised that he wasn’t even armed. 

She wondered if she should be flattered that Jacob didn’t trust her enough to have weapons within her reach, or whether she should be insulted that he thought her so weak as to not even need armed guards. 

She was expecting to be taken to John, or maybe even Joseph, and so she frowned when she felt the van rumble to a stop so soon. 

“What?” Rook murmured, trying to peer out of the darkened windows. Her escort stepped out of the back door and cleared his throat, gesturing that she follow him. She saw a gate behind him, and a worn sign for McKinley Dam, and she knew she was fucked. “No…” Her heart began to race harder as she stepped out of the van, staring at the entrance to what would no doubt be the most safeguarded bunker out of the entire cult’s supply.   


Her escort tried to take her to the door, but her feet turned to lead and she refused to move. 

“No,” Rook said, shaking her head, but she knew that she was in no position to refuse. They both knew it.   


“Please don’t make this harder for yourself,” her escort said, his voice civil, but wavering. “Please don’t make me call for Jacob, I really don’t want to do that.”   


She stared at him, and realised with a start how very young he was - younger than her, perhaps. And she recognised the look in his eyes and wondered how long ago he’d been spirited away from his family and made to join the ranks of a madman. How long had it taken him to build enough trust to be allowed out of the Centre? 

He didn’t even have a gun.

Rook was Wrath, but in that moment, she decided to be Mercy. 

The room she was led to was sparsely decorated, but had too many comforts to be considered Spartan. It was private, and there was even an adjoining bathroom, much to her relief. Her escort, before leaving her alone, had told her that Jacob visited in the evenings, so she assumed that she would have enough time to herself to at least fit in a nap and shower. 

The water was heavenly, and she felt a guilty sort of pleasure in scraping away the dirt and marks of her time in the cages. Her hands lingered at the swell of her abdomen, cupping it and imagining the life slowly growing inside, growing to be born in the middle of this mess. 

She leaned her head back against the shower wall, letting the stream wash over her and she wondered whether she would be thrown right back in those cages the moment her child was born. 

A small, selfish part of her hoped that she wouldn’t be. 

When Rook made her way back into her room, a simple towel wrapped around her, there was a small tray of food waiting for her on the bedside table. She gasped, her stomach roiling at the mere sight and she practically ran towards it, trying to pace herself as she ate for the first time in days. 

Rook felt a pang of worry as she glanced down at her stomach, hoping that her day without food hadn’t caused too much damage. 

She thought maybe five hours had passed before Jacob finally paid her a visit. She’d not long woken from a brief nap; her back grateful for a soft mattress to lay on and a traitorous and instinctive part of her brain trying to tell her that it was safe to sleep here. She was provided for, she was guarded, she was safe. Even though she logically knew that wasn’t necessarily the case, it was hard to convince the fish brain inside her. 

Seeing Jacob again didn’t even manage to quite knock it awake. He wasn’t armed - his thigh holster was noticeably empty - but she shuffled up into a sitting position to watch him warily all the same. It would be a strange day when she was not cautious around Jacob Seed. 

“Sleep well?” He asked, by way of greeting as he made himself comfortable on the nearby armchair.   


She blinked, wondering why he was so calm around her, given her animosity. Did he truly find her so weak? 

“I’ll be sure to give Hotel de la Seed a five star Yelp rating,” Rook muttered, picking at the sleeve of her shirt - an oversized cult sweater she’d seen in the cupboard. She glanced up at him, trying to keep her expression as neutral and unreadable as possible. “So, what’s going to happen to me?”   


He leaned back in the chair, stretching his legs in a display of casualness that had her reeling from the strangeness of it all. 

“I was right; Joseph wants you kept safe. John even volunteered to keep you tucked away in his bunker,” Jacob said, lip quirking upwards at the mention of his youngest brother. But then his expression grew a little colder as he leaned forward, staring at her. “But you and I both know that _this,”_ he gestured to her abdomen, “isn’t gonna suddenly make you behave.”   


Rook frowned, meeting his eyes quickly.

“Yeah…You think you’re a hero. You want to be a soldier, don’t you, sweetheart?” Jacob asked, voice soft as ever but she heard the condescending. “But you’re not. Not anymore. You’ve got a new purpose now; to be a mother.”   


His eyes narrowed, and she got the sense that he wasn’t entirely with her anymore.

“And I’m not gonna let you neglect it,” he said intently. He blinked and she barely even was able to see as he returned to her presently. “Your purpose.”  


She huffed, staring back at the blanket.

“I’m not going to fucking neglect my own kid, Jacob,” she scowled, furiously picking at a stray thread on the cover. “I’m not a monster.”   


He hummed, and an instinctive part of her felt that he was angry. She had never seen him angry, she belatedly realised. 

“No?” He asked, standing up and crossing the space to her bedside in two steps. “What do you call running around with Eli, playing soldier? Throwing yourself into every fight you could see?” He leaned down to meet her gaze, and while his expression was calm, there was a sharp sort of anger in his eyes. “What do you call keeping your mouth fucking shut for a day because you couldn’t swallow your pride? Letting your kid go hungry, huh?”  


He wasn’t the only one getting angry.

“I call it being a deputy,” Rook replied, glaring at him. “I call it being forced into a situation where I have to try and save as many people as I can. And honestly? Who the fuck are _you_ to try and lecture me about parenthood?” She scoffed. “Where are your kids, huh?”  


He didn’t rise to the bait. Instead, his eyes lowered to her stomach, and the smugness was ripped away from her in an instant; replaced by a cold sort of disbelief. 

“No.” She shook her head. “Nope. Not happening; you’re _not_ raising my kid.”   


Jacob raised an eyebrow, and slowly stepped to the foot of the bed, leaning over her and resting against the bedhead. 

“Where’s its dad?” He asked, ignoring what she’d said. “He leave you?”

“None of your fucking business,” she growled back at him, kicking underneath the covers but not hitting him. She didn’t really have the guts to try. Not in her situation.  


He hummed, clearly taking her defensiveness as an answer. 

“Is that who you’d rather raise it?” Jacob asked, civil but not necessarily smug. He gestured up at her with his hand, trying to make his point as though he were in a presentation.“A coward who ran out on you?” He stopped, one finger poised in the air as though something had just occurred to him. “Or maybe you’d rather someone else. Eli, maybe?” 

Her eyes widened and she had to look away in the hopes he wouldn’t see her flush. 

“Ah, there we go,” he chuckled, spreading his arms to lean on either bedpost at the bedfoot. “Did you know he had a son?” She frowned, and glanced back at him, unable to contain her curiosity. “Yeah…Real shame. You hear rumours, around here…And a rumour about a dad who took his eyes off his infant son for just a second?” He paused, and gave her a knowing glance. “Yeah, that shit gets around pretty quick.”   


Her mouth was open, but she couldn’t quite speak. She’d heard that Eli’s wife had left him, but she hadn’t known why. Then she narrowed her eyes, staring suspiciously at Jacob.

“Why the fuck am I going to believe a word you say?” Rook asked, shaking her head. “You know, I don’t care if Eli had that _tragic loss_ ,” she said, pointedly emphasising his words as a jab at the snide way he’d tried to blacken her friend’s image, “he’d still make twice the father you ever would.”   


Jacob’s eyes narrowed for just a moment, but she blinked and he was neutral, unreadable once more. 

“Believe what you want,” he said, shrugging and straightening back up. “It’s not gonna change the fact that he’s out there, and you’re gonna be here for a long time.” He smiled, but it wasn’t a nice smile. “He’s not coming for you, honey.”   


She glared at him, but she couldn’t help but think of how deep she was inside the bunker, of how fortified it was. Logically, she knew Eli wasn’t getting inside this bunker. 

“So, what?” Rook raised an eyebrow at him. “Am I just supposed to throw myself at you and beg for you to raise my kid with me?” The thought made her recoil.   


“You’d never do that,” Jacob scoffed, though the thought amused him. “But don’t worry; you’ll learn. I’ve shown you everything you need to know.” He gestured to the walls around him. “I’ve provided for you, I’ve fed you, and now…Now I’ll keep you safe.”   


Rook knew in that instant that he was entirely serious. 

“ _Both_ of you…will be kept safe,” Jacob said, and was silent for a few moments before he made to leave. He lingered at the door for a moment; giving her another glance. “I’m not gonna let you neglect your purpose, Deputy. And I’m gonna be in your life whether you want it or not.”   


He nodded in farewell, and his eyes lingered on her stomach. 

“I’ll be back tomorrow. Sleep well.”

**Author's Note:**

> provide for me too pls mountain man


End file.
